


in the courtyard, flowers bloom

by Basingstoke



Category: Smallville
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2001-12-12
Updated: 2003-02-26
Packaged: 2017-10-03 14:24:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 17,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Basingstoke/pseuds/Basingstoke
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>During the first year or so of Smallville, I wrote a snippet after nearly every episode. I collected them here, since they're roughly linked in this way. It begins post-Jitters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"You'll forgive me if I don't stand up," Lex said. He was curled in an oversized chair in the library of the castle. At least, the butler guy who had answered the door called it the library. Clark had never been in this room before.

"That's okay," Clark said. He edged into the room, his mom close behind him. They both stared at the shelves and shelves and *shelves* of books--the ceiling was twenty feet high, and the shelves went all the way up. "There's a *lot* of books in here," he said stupidly.

"Mm-hm." Lex smiled a little. Clark realized he had his eyes closed and an ice pack pressed to the back of his head. He was barefoot, which was startling, and his legs were folded up underneath him, making him look like a little kid in the huge chair. "It's comforting, don't you think?"

"Yeah... well, the room is kind of big, but yeah. How many of these have you read?"

"Most of them." Lex shifted the ice pack and grunted. "I used to read...*all* the time. Dad had to pat me down before formal events to make sure I wasn't sneaking a book in. And even then I sometimes managed it." He smiled, then winced. "I don't suppose you have any country remedies for a splitting headache?"

"Shouldn't you be in the hospital?" Clark's mom asked, resting her hand on Clark's shoulder and looking at Lex with concern. "You look terrible!"

Lex's eyes flew open. "Mrs. Kent!" He swung his feet down from the chair and straightened up, wincing. "I'm sorry, I thought it was only Clark. I didn't...how careless of me." He rubbed the bridge of his nose. Clark hadn't ever seen him so flustered. "I was in the hospital. I'm all right. No concussion."

Clark's mom frowned. "Do you mind if I take a look at that?"

Lex blinked at Clark's mom. "I--no, I suppose not." He dropped the ice pack into his lap and bent forward slowly. Clark and his mom came closer to see.

"Oh, my goodness." Clark's mom gasped.

"Lex, when did that happen?" Lex had a *huge* bruise on the back of his head, purple-black and swollen up like a muffin top.

"You weren't there, Clark...Earl hit me with his gun."

"He *hit* you?" Clark fell to his knees by Lex's chair. "With a *gun*? And you're helping him anyway?"

Lex smiled. "It's the right thing to do, Clark. LuthorCorp hurt him, so LuthorCorp should help him."

"That's very generous of you," Clark's mom said. Not in a sarcastic way, but in a real way. "It's, well--"

"Not like my father," Lex said.

"I guess if you keep saying that, it'll stick," Clark's mom said. "I came here because I wanted to thank you. For going in after the kids when you knew it would be dangerous."

"It was the right thing to do," Lex said quietly, looking up at Clark's mom.

"It was very brave," she said, and she hugged him.

Lex looked startled. He brought his arms up around her stiffly, like he was afraid to touch her. His face--Clark didn't know what that expression was, really. Kind of sad but not-sad, kind of shocked.

"It was totally brave," Clark said. "Thanks." And he hugged Lex in turn when his mom let go.

Lex's scalp was warm and weirdly smooth against his cheek. He was huggably soft in his T-shirt, not like the stiff dress cotton of yesterday. Clark could feel Lex's heart thumping against his ribs--okay, he needed to stop feeling up Lex and let go right that second, or Lex was going to think he was a complete freak.

Clark backed off. Lex's eyes flickered down to Clark's--mouth? Something. "You've saved my life twice now," Lex said. "Will you *please* take the truck?"

Clark laughed. "I can't!"

"It's just sitting there depreciating. It's a tragedy," Lex said. The corner of his mouth curled up.

"Really, we can't take anything from you," Clark's mom said. "Clark, we should get going." She touched Clark's shoulder.

Clark straightened up. "I'll see you, um, sometime." He grinned. "Soon? Or are you going to be lying around recuperating?"

"I've taken the rest of the week off," Lex said. "That bruise on my head is only the beginning. if you can give me a hand up? I think a hot bath is in order." He held his hand up to Clark.

Clark pulled him up easily--and Lex *looked* at him, and Clark realized he hadn't been careful about showing his strength. Again. Crap.

Maybe he would have to come back and have a talk with Lex. Maybe he could trust him with this. Maybe. Maybe.

Lex wasn't his father. Lex wouldn't use it against him. Maybe. Probably. Maybe.

"Jonathan is grateful too," Clark's mom said. "With a little more work he may even say it." She smiled.

"I don't need to hear it," Lex said. "Have a good afternoon, Mrs Kent, Clark."

Clark's mom put her arm around his shoulders and led him out. Clark glanced back, just once, and saw that Lex had his eyes closed again, standing barefoot and bruised in the middle of the room.

Clark would come back later and they'd talk. About something. Anything.

*


	2. Chapter 2

Clark sneaked back after dark, when his parents were in bed. He wasn't sure Lex would still be awake--actually, he was pretty sure he'd be asleep--but he went over anyway. It was like a compulsion.

God, he was *such* a dork.

But a couple of lights were on, and Lex had said he was always welcome, so he snuck inside.

He *always* got lost in Lex's castle. It was so *big,* and he was sure parts of it didn't quite match up, like there were secret tunnels inside the walls making the dimensions and angles wrong. He wouldn't be surprised.

So, he listened instead of looking. There was a little noise upstairs. He turned on the X-Ray vision and looked through the floors--right into a light bulb. Ow.

That angle--okay, back into the main hall, then up the stairs, and around the corner, and then there was light under the door, and--

He was in Lex's bathroom. Lex was in the tub. "I'm sorry!" Clark yelped, and spun around.

"Clark. It's all right." Lex was covered in bubbles--he hadn't *seen* anything. Except his foam-garnished feet propped up at the end of the tub, and his head, and his arm. And he SO totally should NOT be in here.

"You don't knock either, hmm?" Slosh of water. Clark glanced over his shoulder and saw that Lex was sitting up. His forearms were folded on the side of the tub and his chin rested on his arms. He was smiling.

"I'm so, so, so, sorry," Clark groaned, pushing his forehead against the wood of the door. He could feel his face turning bright red.

"Clark. It's *okay.* Come over here and say hi." Lex was laughing.

"Um." Clark turned around. He took two steps and collapsed down on the bath rug with his arms around his knees, looking up at Lex. "Hi."

"Hi, Clark. What brings you around?"

"Um. Seeing if you were okay. Really. After, you know, everything. You didn't really want to talk in front of my mom." Clark's face was still red.

"Mm. Couldn't sleep last night. I played pool instead. To much excitement."

"I couldn't really sleep either." Clark had gone running, flat out. He'd turned around when he reached Metropolis, headed the other direction. Then he'd had to turn around when he reached *Denver*. Thank God the interstate was there to guide him home. "School was cancelled today because everyone was so freaked."

"Understandable."

Clark suddenly noticed that Lex didn't have any kind of a tan. His forearms were the same pink as his shoulders, which was weird.

Clark suddenly realized that Lex was naked.

Duh, he was in a tub, but Clark hadn't really twigged before. He felt himself blushing again and ducked his head.

"What?" Lex grinned.

"Um. I'm really sorry?"

"Clark!" Lex reached out and pinched Clark's cheek, leaving a pillow of foam clinging to Clark's hair. "My father doesn't knock either, and believe me, you're much more welcome."

Clark batted Lex's hand away. He couldn't help giggling. "Okay. I'll walk in whenever, and you'll be sorry."

"Oh, I doubt it." Lex fiddled with a lock of Clark's hair. "I *like* you, Clark."

That was kind of--weird. Lex playing with his hair. But it was nice. "I don't..." He was going to say that he didn't see why, but that was way too pathetic, so he shut up.

"What?"

"Nothing." Clark shrugged, which meant that Lex's hand brushed against his cheek.

"Don't cut yourself short. You have a lot of admirable qualities, especially for a fifteen-year-old."

"Sixteen." He'd taken the first grade twice. Language problems. He hadn't spoken English when he was adopted.

"Even more especially for a sixteen-year-old." Lex smiled. "You wouldn't want to have met me when I was sixteen."

"That bad, huh?" Clark grinned.

"As bad as you can imagine." Lex was still playing with Clark's hair. "Spoiled rotten and angry at the world."

"You're not like that now."

"I've learned what wonders the world holds," Lex said, smiling sweetly.

And.

Wow.

Whoa.

Um.

Hand in his hair. Pinching his cheek. Smiling at him like *that.* And. Naked.

Was Lex flirting with him?

Chloe gave him a crash course once, insisting that Jenny Smith was flirting with him when he said she was just asking for help with her math homework. Hair-playing, check. Touching him when it wasn't absolutely necessary, check. Smiling like a dip, check. "Naked" hadn't been on Chloe's list, but he suspected it was on *a* list. Somewhere. The Big Flirting List.

"Clark?"

Clark realized his mouth was hanging open, and closed it. "Are you..."

"Hm?"

Clark swallowed. "Just--hit me if I'm wrong," Clark said, and scrambled to his knees. And kissed Lex.

Lex had harder lips than Jenny and he smelled like soap and chemicals instead of fruit, but it was a good kiss. It was a nice kiss. It was--crap, he was kissing Lex Luthor. Clark sat back, breathing hard.

"You're not wrong," Lex said. "And I would never hit you." He was smiling still.

"I'm not--" Gay. Clark swallowed. He wanted to kiss Lex again. "Okay maybe I am--" Gay.

"Clark! Don't freak out." Lex shifted up and grabbed Clark's upper arms. "You don't have to decide your entire sexual orientation in one day. You can laugh it off later if you decide you're straight. It's been done before."

"It has? Really?" His heart was hammering in his throat. "Then I can kiss you again?"

Lex smiled. "Sure." Lex might have said more, but Clark darted forward and kissed him. Lex's hands slipped up his shoulders to his neck and cheek. Clark's own hands were squeezed between his knees.

Kissing. A good kiss. Kissing Lex Luthor, and the thought didn't freak him out this time. Kissing Lex while Lex was naked--he wanted to see Lex naked. And he had an erection, of course. Gay gay gay.

Clark pulled away again. "I've got to go home," he gasped. He stood up, wavering. His knees weren't all there.

"Okay. But come back," Lex said.

"I will." Clark grinned. He couldn't stop himself from grinning. He tugged on his untucked shirt, hoping it hid, um, everything.

Lex's eyes darted over him. "And you don't have to knock."

"I'll knock anyway." Clark grinned harder and backed up to the door. "Bye!"

He left. He was burning all over--oh, man, he hoped he hadn't dented Lex's doorknob. He'd grabbed it kind of hard.

He didn't *feel* gay. How did you know if you were gay? But then, he didn't feel like an alien either, usually. Maybe it was normal for his kind of alien to be gay. Wow, that would be weird. Or maybe he was actually a *girl* alien and he just looked like a boy human and he wasn't gay at all--okay, it was time to stop standing in Lex's hallway being weird.

Clark ran home and climbed into bed, still touching his lips and thinking about Lex. Thinking about Lex naked.

Gay. His mom had a friend who was gay. Clark hadn't even known until he started talking about his boyfriend. His mom wouldn't be friends with someone who wasn't okay. Okay. That was logic. Oh, man, what a week.

Clark jerked off before he could finally sleep. Thinking about Lex.

*


	3. Chapter 3

The next day he had class, though everyone was still weird and silent and scared and wanted to know what he had *done* in there. He just shrugged, shrugged it off, told them "nothing." He told them Lex was the real hero, because he completely was.

Then after school he had chores, and then dinner, and then he found out his mom had rented a video when she was in town, which she *never* did.

So he watched "The Princess Bride" that night for probably the tenth time, sandwiched between his parents on the couch, trying not to notice the mushy looks they were shooting at each other behind his head.

His parents were still scared and worried--that had been a close call even for *him*. And, well, that made him scared and worried too. He still didn't know what-all he could do. He knew he was okay in regular fires, but a gas explosion?

And Lex was figuring things out.

And. Lex. Kissing Lex. Kissing Lex naked.

He made himself stop thinking about Lex until he went to bed, just in case his mom really *could* read his mind like he always suspected.

But then when he was brushing his teeth and washing his face and changing into sweat pants to sleep, *then* he was thinking about Lex. Lex's mouth. Lex's hands. The way Lex shouted his name when he went over the side of the railing. The way Lex looked at him when he lied.

Okay, so the last thing sucked.

Clark climbed into bed and turned off the lamp and was too wired even to close his eyes.

He couldn't tell Lex what was going on. His parents would kill him. He didn't know what his dad's deal was with Lionel Luthor, but he knew his dad didn't hate people for no reason. And Lex was still his father's son, even if he wasn't *metaphorically* his father's son.

So that was out.

Maybe he could tell Lex there were things he couldn't tell him? That wasn't exactly telling or exactly lying either. Clark hated being sneaky, but he didn't really have a choice.

He could tell Lex there were things he *wished* he could tell him. God, that was the truth.

He so completely couldn't sleep.

Clark got out of bed and changed back into his jeans and pullover. He headed out to the barn.

He could look at Lex's place as easily as Lana's. He had, while they were building it. It was really cool. All the pieces numbered and labeled so they could slot back in to each other like they had originally. He wondered if the stones minded being moved.

There was a light on in the castle.

Clark just wasn't that strong.

He ran over in two minutes flat. Squeezed through the gate, found the door that was always open, crept inside. Got lost. Wandered around until he found the main hall, and then he knew where he was. He went up the stairs and looked at the bottoms of the doors. One showed light.

He walked up to it, put his hands on it. Listened: nothing.

"Lex?" he said.

Nothing.

He opened the door. Lex told him he didn't have to knock... and this room wasn't the bathroom. The bathroom was across the hall and dark.

This room was Lex's bedroom. It was huge, with high ceilings. There was a full bookshelf and an empty desk, a thick rug on the stone floor, and a modern-looking king-sized bed in the middle of the room, sheeted and canopied in royal purple and black.

Lex was tucked into bed, with one hand resting on an open book and the other curled under his head. He was asleep. The reading lamp was still on. That was the light Clark saw.

Clark crept up to the foot of the bed, staring at Lex. Lex was in a black t-shirt--that was all Clark could see. Lex's lips were parted. His eyelids and fingers twitched a little as he dreamed.

Lex's eyes flew open. He sat up and threw the book at Clark, hitting him square in the forehead.

"Ow!"

"...Clark?"

"Yeah." Clark rubbed his forehead. "Vanity Fair" *stung.*

"I thought you were a burglar. Come back to bed." Lex lay down and turned the covers back, closing his eyes again.

"Come to bed?" Clark squeaked.

"Mm-hmm." Lex turned onto his side, bunching up one of the pillows under his head.

Um. Um. Um. But Lex meant to sleep, he suddenly realized. To sleep, and--that sounded really *nice.*

Clark kicked off his shoes and slid under the covers. Lex snuggled closer and shivered. "Turn off the light," Lex mumbled. He pressed his face into Clark's shoulder.

Clark reached up and turned off the lamp. It took a minute for his eyes to adjust, but he could see Lex lit in grey and black by the moon. He could see Lex's mouth mumbling things too soft for him to hear; Lex's fingers knot and relax in his shirt; Lex's eyebrows twitch with emotion in his dream.

He was *in bed.* With a guy. That guy being Lex Luthor. And he was there because he wanted to be, because it was his own crazy idea to go over in the middle of the night.

He was so completely gay. He was a freaky gay alien guy. He was--

He was tired.

He hugged Lex closer and went to sleep.

*


	4. Chapter 4

Clark woke up about half an hour before dawn, wondering idly if the barn cats had gotten into the house again, because he was all warm...but it was Lex on his shoulder, no cat.

Lex's bruise-splotched head resting in the curve of Clark's neck; Lex's hand tucked into the opposite armpit; Lex's pajama-clad leg curled around Clark's knee. Lex's soft, warm blankets over him--Lex had a fantastic bed. Clark stretched out his toes but couldn't feel the frame at all.

He could get used to this.

If his parents didn't kill him for missing chores. Clark winced and started sliding out from under Lex.

"Hm? Mm." Lex grabbed his shirt. Hard.

"Lex? I really have to go. It's late."

"Wh?" Lex opened his eyes. "Late?"

"Yeah. It's..." Clark checked his watch. "5:30."

"Jesus." Lex closed his eyes again and folded around Clark's watch arm.

"Lex..."

"Good morning, Clark," Lex mumbled into Clark's neck.

"Morning." Lex felt really good against his body. It was a little like sleeping with his dog, back before she died, but way better. Lex wasn't stinky and he didn't have fleas and he was a *lot* more fun to kiss. "Can I kiss you?" Clark asked.

"Yes," Lex said, smiling. Clark rolled into him, scooted down a little, and kissed him.

Now one of Lex's hands was creeping into his hair and the other was sliding down his back and over his jeans. Lex made a noise into his mouth and Clark backed off. "You're still dressed," Lex said.

"Yeah." Clark grinned.

Lex wasn't smiling. "I'm sorry I rushed things, Clark."

"You didn't." Clark leaned down and kissed Lex again. "I'm, um. I'm getting used to the gay thing."

"Congratulations, you can say it." Lex ran his hand through Clark's hair. His mouth curled up in half a smile.

"I was practicing."

"And you could be bisexual, Clark. That's what I am."

Clark blinked. "I thought that was when you're, um, with a man and a woman at the same time?" He blushed a little, picturing that. Picturing--Lana, sort of. Was Lex going to bring a woman in? He didn't think he could handle that. He had the feeling she'd laugh at him.

"No! God. How do these ideas get started?" Lex hugged Clark around the waist. "Being bisexual means that you find both men and women attractive. It doesn't mean you have to have both. If I got married tomorrow and spent the rest of my life in monogamous bliss, I'd still be bisexual."

"Oh." Well, that made sense too. "Lex?"

"Yes?"

"Don't get married tomorrow, okay?" Clark grinned and wiggled.

"Mm. I wasn't planning to." Lex arched his hips a little and Clark realized that lump against his hip was Lex's dick. Wow. Cool.

Of course he'd *seen* other guys before. The gym locker room was more of an education than health class was. He'd never felt one, though, not like this. Not with his whole body. Not with *intent.*

"Lex..." Clark kissed Lex's cheek.

"Mm?"

"Can we..." Clark wiggled his hips a little.

"What?"

"You know." He rubbed his cheek against Lex's neck.

"Tell me." Lex's voice sounded serious. His hands weren't moving.

"You *know*." God. So embarrassing. So, so embarrassing. Clark breathed pillow and waited for Lex to just--just *take* him.

"Clark." Lex rubbed the back of Clark's head. "I'm not going to have sex with you until you can say it."

"Oh, man." Clark curled his arm around his head and pressed his face into his elbow, feeling like he could melt into the floor.

"Communication is important."

"You sound like my health teacher." Clark slid off Lex's legs and considered humping the mattress. This was *urgent.* Lex ought to *know* that. Lex was a *guy.*

"Clark." Lex rolled Clark over onto his back and kissed him long, deep and hard. "Clark. Go do your chores. And practice saying it. I'll still be here, and I'll still want you."

"Want me?" Tomato soup face. Definitely. But Lex didn't seem to care.

"Like you wouldn't believe." Lex licked Clark's cheek. "Go on."

"Okay," Clark gasped. "Um. Okay. I'll be. Um. Back." He crawled over Lex and tumbled out of bed onto the floor.

"Clark?"

"I'm okay." Clark closed his eyes and thought about ice. "Just. A second."

Lex started laughing.

"This is so completely not funny," Clark snapped.

"Oh, Clark, Clark, Clark. I'm sorry," Lex said between giggles, sounding not at all like he meant it. He was sitting up with his hand over his mouth, looking at Clark. Clark glared back.

Ice. Ice ice ice. Sean turning him into ice--okay, that had sucked. Badly. And that was unsexy enough that he could stand up and put his shoes on.

"I'll walk you out," Lex said, sliding out of bed. Clark was about to refuse, but then he realized he couldn't remember exactly how he'd gotten in. The beginning and ending points, yes, but not the stuff in between.

"Okay."

Lex slung an arm around his waist and guided him out the door. Their hips bumped together comfortably. Clark sighed. "Is it possible to, you know, rupture something?" His dick was so not happy with him.

Lex grinned and pecked his cheek. "No. But it feels that way sometimes, doesn't it?"

Clark sighed again, with more heart.

"Shall I make you a key?" Lex said as they walked down the stairs. Lex's bare feet were nearly silent.

"To the *castle*?"

"If I can't trust you, who can I trust?"

Clark was sort of shocked at the idea. A key to the castle. "You don't have to. I've been getting in through the side door. You never lock it."

"I don't need to lock it, Clark, it's stuck tight. Nobody can get in through there without a battering ram." Lex shot him a look. "You unstuck it?"

Clark swallowed. He hadn't even noticed. "Kent charm. It works well on doors."

"Mm. I'll lock it, then." They were in the main hall. Lex cupped Clark's face in his hands and kissed him one more time. "And I'll make you a key. See you around, Clark."

"See you."

Clark stumbled outside, his whole body burning. He breathed in the frigid morning air. Man, what a night. What a week! What a mess!

Daylight. And he was already grounded for the party. His parents were going to *kill* him if they found out he was sneaking over to see Lex. He didn't even want to think about what they'd do if they knew he was *sleeping* with Lex.

And he had. He'd slept with Lex. Wow.

Clark ran home at top speed, trying to think up excuses.

*


	5. Chapter 5

"It's chemistry, isn't it?"

Martha jumped. "Oh--" She couldn't call a boy young enough to be her son Mr Luthor. "Lex. I didn't see you."

Lex was looking at the stovetop. He smiled up at her. "I was in the barn with Clark. He's washing up. And here you are, doing practical chemistry in the kitchen."

"Cooking? I suppose so." Martha collected herself and fetched the flour for the gravy.

"It's fascinating. I took a course on the chemistry of cooking, but I've never actually cooked; it was rather theoretical." Lex was examining the roast chicken carefully.

Martha added the flour to the saucepan with the drippings. She handed Lex the spoon. "Here. Stir, and you'll be cooking."

"How fast?"

"Slowly. Just keep everything from sticking to the bottom. It'll thicken as it cooks up."

Lex followed instructions perfectly. Martha shook her head slightly to herself and spooned the green beans and mashed potatoes into serving dishes. "You never helped your mother cook? I've had Clark frying eggs and stirring pots since he was old enough to reach the stove."

"We had a cook," Lex said. "I'm not sure Mother knew how to cook either. And the cook despised me. I burnt out the bottom of her favorite sauce pan in a chemistry experiment."

Martha laughed. "Clark used my Dutch oven to house a family of rabbits he found behind the barn. He was so upset when we had to move them that we built him a hutch."

The floorboards creaked as Clark bounded in from the washroom. He was so tall these days; Martha wondered how much longer the house would contain him. "Mom! Can Lex stay for dinner?" he called as he came around the corner.

"He's already helping me make it, Clark, so yes. Go set the table."

Clark squeezed in next to Lex at the stove. "Wow, Lex, Mom won't let me *near* her gravy." Clark's hand darted in and he stuck his finger into the gravy to taste.

Martha swatted his bottom. "That's because you can't stop tasting it. Set the table, Clark."

Clark grinned, licked his finger, and got down the plates.

"I have a degree in biochemistry, Clark. I can handle a spoon." Martha wasn't sure, but she thought she saw Lex wink at Clark. "And I've certainly learned not to taste."

"Oh, ewwwww."

Martha leaned over Lex and sprinkled seasonings into the gravy. "Just a few minutes more," she said. Lex nodded.

"So that the gluten in the flour can connect, making it thick but not gelid. How marvelous."

"Making it good gravy. Come back some time for breakfast and I'll teach you to fry an egg." Had she really just invited a Luthor to eat with them a second time? She had, she realized, and Jonathan wouldn't be happy. But look at Clark--grinning in a way she hadn't seen nearly enough since his body began acting up.

She could inconvenience his father to make her son happy. That's how things ought to work.

"Dinner is served," Martha said, setting the potatoes on the table.


	7. Chapter 7

Clark felt a hand on his cheek; he turned toward it automatically, smiling through the half-sleep.

Then he realized that Lex was still curled in front of him and his eyes flew open. He sat up. "Oh!"

"Oh." There was just enough light that Clark could see Lex's friend Bruce sitting on the bed. Bruce stuck his hands in his lap. "I didn't realize," Bruce said.

"Uh. Me neither. I mean, if you were looking for Lex. Um, Lex, wake up." Clark shook him. "This is awkward."

"Hmm. Mm?" Lex sat up, blinking. "Bruce? Bruce. Get in."

Bruce crawled over Clark and slipped under the covers beside Lex. Clark heard him kiss Lex.

Clark sat still for a minute, listening to them kiss. "Lex?"

"Yes, Clark?"

"I feel like I should be jealous." Strangely, though, he wasn't; he just felt out of his depth. Jealousy felt different. Sharper. Like a knife in the gut. Clark didn't have any gut-knives at the moment.

"Why? I've slept with Bruce before." Lex touched Clark's back.

"Yeah, but..."

"I thought I might do it again." Lex's hand slipped down to Clark's butt and pinched him. "Don't you want to watch?"

Clark had the feeling the conversation ought to have gone differently. But--truth was truth. "...Yes." He'd been thinking thoughts ever since Bruce showed up driving an even sexier car than Lex's.

"Turn on a light, Bruce."

Rustle and a bump and suddenly Clark was squinting against the brightness. It was just the lamp on the other side of the bed. When his eyes adjusted, he saw Lex smiling at him. Lex picked up Clark's hand and kissed the knuckles.

Bruce was rummaging in the nightstand drawer. He tossed a condom on the bed and paused. "Lex? What do you want to do?"

"I want you to fuck me," Lex said. Clark bit his lip, instantly erect; Bruce jumped up and dropped his pajama bottoms, giving Clark his second view of a naked, turned-on man. The hair made things look different. More real, sort of.

Bruce tossed back the covers and climbed on top of Lex. Clark wasn't sure what to do, but Lex still had his hand, so he just held on and squeezed a little as Bruce kissed Lex all over.

He kept waiting for the jealousy to come, but it never did, not even when Lex rested his legs on Bruce's shoulders.

Bruce slid down the bed. Clark thought he was going to suck Lex's dick, but instead he--ew. Ew! Ew, ew, ew, Clark was NEVER doing that, EVER, so it was a *damn* good thing Bruce was there to do it, because apparently Lex liked it. A lot. Judging from the noises he was making.

"Clark, come here," Lex sighed. Clark cuddled closer and kissed Lex, which was nice. Clark was a big fan of making out.

"What's this called?" Clark asked, feeling dumb again. It wasn't his fault--they didn't teach gay sex in health class, though the idea of Coach Peters explaining cocksucking made Clark giggle--but he felt so unimaginative as Lex took him through the paces.

"Kissing," Lex said, and licked Clark's cheek, breathing fast.

"I mean what Bruce is doing," Clark said. He ran his fingers into Lex's ticklish armpits, making him grunt and wiggle.

"Rimming. Stop that! Both of you, quit it."

Clark knelt up. So did Bruce. They glanced at each other and then back at Lex.

"*Fuck* me," Lex said. "*Now*. And Clark, watch and learn." Lex wiggled his fingers at Clark.

Clark looked at Lex's dick, Bruce's dick, Bruce's flushed face. He curled up beside Lex again, trying to be small and out-of-the-way, feeling self-conscious.

Bruce put on the condom. "Do you need--?" He lifted Lex's knees to his shoulders, lifting Lex off the bed. He was *strong*, Clark realized.

"No," Lex said. "Nothing. Just cock." And he smiled, and the smile fell into an O as Bruce rammed into him.

Clark watched Lex's face. God, the bed was shaking and Lex's eyelids were flickering in time with Bruce's thrusts. He kissed Lex's cheek. "Jerk me off, *please,*" Lex groaned.

Meaning Clark. He looked--Bruce's stomach and Lex's, both dewed with sweat, and Lex's cock, jutting up against Bruce's pale skin. Bruce's hands--several shades darker--clutched Lex's hips, banging their bodies together.

Clark watched and learned. He and Lex hadn't done this yet, mostly because Clark couldn't convince himself that it wouldn't hurt. He *couldn't* hurt Lex. That was the oldest rule he knew...

Clark slid his hand down Lex's belly. He was way darker than either Bruce or Lex--there was a reason they called it a farmer's tan. He had a line at the biceps where it cut off, leaving him baby-pink to the neck, where there was another, even sharper line where his collar rested.

He'd jerked Lex off bunches of times. He closed his hand around Lex's dick in the familiar way--but Bruce's belly brushed against Clark's knuckles, tickling his hand with hair, and that was *not* something Clark was used to with Lex. He kept going anyway. Lex groaned into his ear.

Bruce caught his eye. Clark held his breath. He ran his hand down Bruce's belly, slicking his hand with sweat.

Intimate. Clark suddenly realized he was having sex with two guys at the same time. It felt-- Wild. Reckless.

Cool.

He felt *cool*.

He grabbed Lex's dick again, jerking him firmly. Lex cried out and grabbed Clark's hair; Clark kissed and sucked a nipple, making Lex writhe.

"Help me," Bruce gasped. "Lift him." Bruce had Lex's other hand and was pulling. Clark got it and slipped an arm under Lex's shoulders, kneeling up and lifting him into Bruce's lap. Lex shouted wordlessly.

"Hold him," Bruce said. Clark wrapped his arms around Lex's chest, supporting most of Lex's weight. "Yeah." Bruce thrust up harder and Lex yelped in Clark's ear. Lex's dick was rock hard--he was about to come. Clark bit Lex's shoulder gently, reached down and rubbed his thumb over the head.

Lex jerked in his arms and came. Bruce shivered and kept thrusting, hard and harder. His short-cropped hair was spiky from sweat and his eyes were wild.

Bruce's mouth fell open and he made a tiny noise, then sank back on his heels. He must have come. Inside Lex. The thought made Clark shiver.

"Jesus," Lex muttered.

"Yeah." Clark replied. Lex sagged against him, limp in his embrace. Clark set him down on the bed.

Bruce slipped out of Lex's body and they both shivered. Clark stretched out beside Lex, pressing his face to Lex's shoulder.

Lex's fingers twitched and brushed against Clark's erection. "Clark..."

"I. Um."

"You can't sleep like that." Lex petted him, eyes closed, smiling faintly. Clark pressed up against his side.

Bruce slid in on the other side of Lex. He met Clark's eyes and smiled.

"That was cool," Clark said. "I mean--more than cool. It was."

"Fantastic," Lex said.

"Yeah." Clark pressed his dick into Lex's palm, enjoying the slow attention.

Bruce reached across Lex's body slowly, looking straight at Clark. Looking--looking for permission, Clark figured. Clark smiled, unsure how else to say it was okay.

Bruce's hand folded around Clark's dick and Bruce started jacking him, slow but with a firm grip. Lex's hand slipped lower, playing with Clark's balls. Clark closed his eyes and thought about the sensation.

Two hands--two *different* hands; Bruce's was rougher and Lex's larger--and they both knew exactly what they were doing. Clark let them tug and squeeze and tease him up to the peak and over it; he came, thrusting into both hands at once.

He opened his eyes to see Lex and Bruce both looking at him, sleepy and happy. "You're very beautiful," Bruce said quietly.

"Thank you," Clark said. He curled in closer to Lex.

Lex kissed each of their foreheads in turn. "Lights. Please. And say you'll both be here in the morning. No disappearing acts from *either* of you."

"Promise," Clark said, closing his eyes.

"I promise," Bruce echoed. He shifted and the light snapped off, bathing them in darkness.

"Good," Lex said, and then he was asleep.

the schmoopy end.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Post-Hourglass

*

Lex was pacing up and down outside the nursing home, rubbing his hands up and down his thighs. Clark stopped on the steps. "Hey, Lex."

Lex looked up, eyes wide and hunted. He broke into a smile that was a little too obviously fake. "Clark!" He looked at his car. "I was just going for a drive. Care to join me?"

"Only if I'm behind the wheel," Clark joked.

Lex looked at him for a moment. "Okay."

"...Okay?"

Clark caught the keys against his chest. "Okay," Lex said.

"...I was joking..."

"Didn't anyone ever tell you not to look a gift horse in the mouth? Press the button to unlock it and insert the big silver key to drive." Lex grinned really and truly this time.

Clark swallowed and pressed the button. The car chirped in response.

"Good boy!" Lex got in the passenger side. Clark approached the car nervously. He opened the driver's side door with two fingers, waiting for the car to object.

Lex leaned over the seat. "Clark, even if things go horribly wrong, you can't possibly wreck this car worse than I've wrecked cars like it in the past."

"You're not worried that I'd kill you in the process?" Clark settled into the driver's seat, hyperaware of his buckles and zippers and other sharp accoutrements against the soft leather of the seats.

"Of course not. Every moment is borrowed time anyway." Lex's face went strange before he blinked and smiled again.

Clark looked at the instruments and started the car.

Driving Lex's car wasn't *that* much different from driving Mr. Brown's Civic. It was just *better*, like homemade chocolate mousse was better than boxed chocolate pudding. "You can go faster than twenty-five," Lex said.

"I *know*! I'm getting the feel of it." Clark shifted and hit the gas.

The nursing home was a little way out of town, so the long drive led to the highway. Clark looked at Lex and took the ramp that led away from town. Lex grinned.

"...Okay," Clark said eventually. "I get why you drive the way you do now."

"Exhilarating, isn't it?"

"I'm going eighty and it's just begging for more." Clark held his foot steady--he did *not* want to explain a speeding ticket to his dad.

"The cops won't stop my car."

"Oh, jeez, Lex!" Clark glanced at Lex and found him laughing, hands clasped around his knee. Clark gave it a little more gas and the car purred like a tiger cub. Temptation, temptation--no! he had to be strong. Ninety was his *limit.* And he was slowing way down if he saw anyone else. Clark shook his head. "This is like..."

"Power." Lex was staring at him; Clark could see him out of the corner of his eye.

"Well, I wouldn't know what that's like normally. I'm in high school." It was like running at top speed, actually, only he had someone to share it with.

"You have power over life and death, though."

"What?"

Lex was leaning in even closer. "You stopped Death in its tracks," he said. "You put it on freeze-frame."

"Lex?" Clark slowed a little. "What's going on with you?"

"I touched Cassandra and she died," Lex said.

"Oh, man--" Clark saw a turnoff for a county road and took it. He stopped the car at the deserted intersection, trying to figure out what to say as he shifted into park.

"Do you get it? I passed it on. You stopped death for me and I handed it off to someone else." Lex had a strange, wild look in his face. "Crash the car, Clark. Save me again. Maybe this time I can pass it off to someone who deserves it."

"No! Lex, this is crazy. You didn't kill Cassandra!"

"I didn't say I did, Clark." Lex pressed his lips together, staring into Clark's eyes.

Clark looked away. "I'm not crashing the car."

"But are you saving me again?"

"I--" This was *crazy.* This was a crazy conversation. "If I have to. I mean, if I can. Don't try to kill yourself, okay Lex? Please?"

"I never have. I never will."

"Okay." Clark slumped in the seat. "Lex... I don't think death is like cooties. I don't think it's catching."

"But doesn't that seem a little too coincidental to you?"

"Well--no, not really." Clark frowned. "She was old. The nurse said her heart was weak."

"That's not my point. The point is that I touched her, asking about you, and she died."

"...Asking about me?"

"Your role in my life."

Clark tried to decide if that was cool or creepy. "I'm your friend."

"My friend...yes, Clark, you certainly are." Clark looked up and Lex was laughing again. Clark had the distinct feeling that Lex was having a totally different conversation than he was. It was uncomfy.

Clark looked at the steering wheel. "So who *would* you pass the death cooties on to? If they existed, which they don't."

Lex leaned back, silent for a moment. "Well." He brushed his knuckle over his lip. "My father springs to mind."

"...That's really sad." It made his stomach hurt to think about it. Lex hating his dad *that* much. Lex ought to have a dad like his. They should have been brothers.

Clark thought about his parents adopting Lex Luthor and shook his head.

"I'm not planning a hit." Lex's face was cold and remote now.

Clark widened his eyes. "I didn't think you were going to!" he said, almost stumbling over the words. "I just think it's sad. Families should love each other."

"In an ideal world? Yes. When you find one, let me know. Maybe I can arrange to be reincarnated in it." Lex smirked.

"But doesn't it..." Hurt? Feel lonely? Feel rootless? Clark didn't know how to say it--he wasn't sure he *could* say it. He felt like he was trespassing in Lex's head. "Never mind." He started the car.

Lex was looking straight ahead. "I miss my mother," he said. "I won't miss my father, whenever he finally goes. I'd miss my friends. Bruce. Katrina. You."

"I'm not going anywhere," Clark said.

"Of course not." Lex squinted at Clark's shoulder. "Clark--hold very, very still."

"What? What?" Clark froze.

Lex leaned over and slapped his shoulder hard. "Death cootie." He grinned.

"Oh, for that? I'm driving you home in FIRST GEAR." Clark revved the engine.

"Get out! Out! Out of my car!" Lex made shooing gestures. Clark unhooked the seatbelt and jumped out the door giggling.

*


	9. Chapter 9

*

Jonathan walked into the barn, wiping off his hands and wondering what the tractor's deal was *this* time. No choice but to open it up and take a look.

He could see the toolkit in Clark's area of the loft. He started up the stairs.

He heard a strangled noise. "Dad?"

Clark, sounded...busy. Jonathan sighed. "Thirty seconds, Clark. I need that toolkit." He crossed his arms and waited, counting to thirty under his breath.

For a boy that tall, Clark wasn't "busy" all that often. Jonathan wondered who was up there--Margaret McKean again? Clark said they'd broken up, but that didn't mean much with sixteen-year-olds.

He knew his boy was still a virgin. Jonathan hadn't been, by the time he was Clark's age, but that was a much simpler time to grow up in. All you had to worry about was whether a girl was going to get pregnant, not if she had a disease that would kill you. Or if she was going to turn into a blood-sucking spider creature. This being Smallville.

Clark appeared at the top of the stairs, rumpled and flushed. His shirt was buttoned crooked. "Dad! Which toolkit? I'll get it."

Jonathan started up the stairs. "I think I'll get it myself," he said. Margaret was a nice girl. Or--Clark hung around with Chloe a lot, and she was nice too. Heck, it could even be Lana up there; Clark hadn't stood her up recently.

"Dad, really, I can--I mean, I--" Clark stretched out his arms, trying to hide the loft.

"You know, I was sixteen once as well, Clark, and I didn't hide things from my dad any better than you hide things from me. So just settle down and let me see who you've got up here." He reached the top of the stairs and turned and saw--

Lex Luthor.

Un-rumpled but slightly flushed, standing in the middle of his son's hideaway with his hands in his pockets and giving Jonathan a look that eliminated any suspicion he might have that this was innocent.

Clark swallowed.

Lex was silent, for once, so Jonathan didn't punch him. Didn't throw him down the stairs or out the second-story hay door. Clark would probably just run down and catch him anyway, and then they'd be worse off than they were now.

A Luthor creeping around in his son's britches. It wasn't so much the gender--although that was a whole other set of worries, starting with "why didn't we see this?" and ending with "what in the heck do we do *now*?"--but Lex looked a hell of a lot like his father. Not so much in his face, but in his soul.

Lex's father had offered him the hand of friendship, a new truck, and a partnership too good to be true. Sure enough, in the fine print, it wasn't true at all; it ended with the Kent farm in Luthor hands if things went even a little wrong.

Now here was Lex. Friendship, a truck, and--this. His hands in Clerk's jeans, offering him God knows what.

His eyes challenged Jonathan. He'd seen Lex out-stubborn his own father--no mean feat. He was sure Lex could out-mule him while out-foxing him on the side.

There had to be a solution.

"Well," Jonathan said.

"Dad--"

Jonathan touched his shoulder and Clark closed his mouth, begging for *something* with his eyes. Understanding?

"Dinner's in half an hour," Jonathan said. "Lex, you're welcome to join us."

He couldn't push him away and couldn't maneuver him around. Nothing to do but open his arms and hold his son close, along with whoever he chose to call friend.

Lex's mouth twitched. He glanced at Clark. "I'd love to," he said.

Nothing more to say. Jonathan turned and headed back down the stairs.

"Thanks, Dad," Clark said behind him. Jonathan half-turned and smiled up at his son.

Half an hour to dinner. He didn't know what he was going to tell Martha, but he was sure she'd know what to do. She could figure out a way to get their son back from the Luthors.

"Martha, our boy's not a baby any more."

*


	10. Chapter 10

*

Lex scrolled through reports on his laptop with one hand, stroking the touchpad as he stroked Clark's hair. Clark heaved a mighty sigh and turned the page.

"Isn't Chemistry engaging your young mind?" Lex asked.

Clark let the book fall onto his chest. "Considering that I was doing stuff TWICE as hard in Physics last year? No."

Lex reached over him and picked the book up. "An atom is comprised of protons, neutrons, and electrons...oy. I see. Can't you take classes at MU?"

"Not until next year. And only correspondence courses." Clark rolled over and looked up at Lex through his lashes. "Are you done with your reports?"

"I'm never done with my reports. Rephrase your question as 'have you done *enough* with your reports," and, well..." Lex leaned forward and set his computer on the coffee table as Clark unzipped Lex's pants.

Clark's textbook fell to the floor. "Clark. Bent pages."

Clark rolled his eyes and picked up the book. He set it carefully on the coffee table, then climbed into Lex's lap. "Shove over," Clark said. "Um, actually, lean over."

Lex raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"So I can have sex with you, duh."

Good reason. Lex leaned back, stretching out over the couch. He folded his arms over his head and smirked at Clark as Clark industriously yanked his shirt open and tugged his pants down to his knees.

Clark skinned his own shirts over his head and tossed them over the coffee table. The shafts of afternoon sunlight fondled his stomach lovingly.

He collapsed onto Lex with a complete lack of grace and buried his face in Lex's neck, inhaling. "You smell so *good.* All the time."

"Do you want to borrow my cologne?"

"Lex! If I go around smelling like you, my grades will *really* drop. I'll have to be jerking off in the bathroom all the time."

"I see your point." Lex brought down his arms and embraced Clark, stroking the hard muscle and soft skin.

Clark made a face and wriggled his hands underneath himself to unzip his jeans. His shoulder dug into Lex's rib cage painfully as he shimmied out of his pants. Lex squelched the urge to lecture him about forethought.

The sun angled across his shoulder and highlighted Clark's mussed hair with gold. Clark smelled like hay and cheap strawberry shampoo--not a combination that had ever struck him as sexy before, but it was all about setting, wasn't it?

The sun angled across his shoulder and highlighted Clark's mussed hair with gold. Clark smelled like hay and cheap strawberry shampoo--not a combination that had ever struck him as sexy before, but it was all about setting, wasn't it?

"Since when do you use strawberry shampoo?" Lex asked.

Clark looked up and grinned. "Since I grabbed the wrong bottle in the supermarket. Mom said I had to use it anyway. Nobody else has noticed." He kissed Lex then, and he tasted like coffee.

His hips worked against Lex's, slow and steady. Lex tried to bring a knee up but his legs were hopelessly entwined. Nothing to do but hold Clark and urge him on.

Clark's thigh nudged between Lex's and Clark thrust against his hip. He licked Lex's ear--tickle, aggh, tickle, and he had to rub it against Clark's hair to ease the itch. Clark wound around him further, snuffling at his skin.

Then they fell off the couch.

Clark landed on his back, Lex on top of him. Clark blushed. "Are you all right?" Lex asked.

"Yeah." Clark lolled on the floor, blushing furiously. Lex sprawled on top of him, licked a nipple just because it was there, and started jerking Clark off.

Fine, upstanding member of the farming community--Lex bit down on Clark's nipple to keep from laughing and Clark gasped and grabbed him, pressing him close; so Lex pressed their cocks together and rubbed his palm across both heads, wondering, as always, what a foreskin felt like from the inside.

Clark's breathing sped and he twitched up into Lex's body. He pressed his head and shoulders into the floor, arching as Lex rubbed faster.

Lex watched his face as he closed his eyes and came. "Oh," he sighed, a tiny sound that floated over Lex's scalp like a breeze.

Lex painted meaningless patterns in come on Clark's shivering chest, finishing himself off with his other hand.

And then, Clark made a wonderful pillow. The sun rested comfortably over his naked ass.

Clark's dick bumped into his hip. Lex squinted up at Clark. Clark looked sheepish and hopeful together.

"Shower," Lex said, and stood up.

*


	11. Chapter 11

*

"It's a scientific wonder, Clark," Lex said, walking out onto the frozen pond. "And I never even knew it was here."

"Uh huh." Clark eyed the middle of the pond, where he was pretty sure Sean had gone under. If Lex's teeth started chattering, he was going to tackle him right off the pond, and the heck with secrets.

"Despite the fact that it's February, it's nearly 70 degrees out here, and I'm walking on solid ice..." Lex gestured and Clark blinked.

Lex was in short sleeves. A t-shirt, even. "Hey. Wow. I've never seen your arms before."

Lex grinned. "Want to see my tattoo?"

"You have a tattoo?"

"Yes, I..." Lex looked down and his voice trailed off. "Clark? There's a boy in here."

"Um."

"Do you know anything about this?"

"Yeah."

"Clark..." Lex said with a warning tone of voice, sounding just like Clark's mom did when she scolded him.

"Well! I had to put him somewhere. I don't think he's dead." Clark shrugged helplessly. "I think if he were dead, his powers would stop working and the pond would melt."

Lex slipped his hands into his pockets, tilting his head to one side. Clark still watched the ice beneath his feet. "You're kind of calm about that," Lex said.

"He attacked my mom, dude."

Lex raised both his eyebrows. "Dude?"

Laughing at the country kid. "Yeah. Dude." Clark scowled. "Dude, can you please step off the ice? You're making me nervous. I don't know how powerful his, um, powers are."

Lex looked down. He looked back up at Clark, quirked a smile and strolled toward him. "He attacked your mother?"

"Yeah. Then I threw him in the pond and it froze over fast enough to trap him."

"And you didn't take a jackhammer to the pond?" Lex was on firm ground again, close enough that his breath touched Clark's shirt. "To his head?"

"No."

"I would have, if someone threatened my mom. I admire your forbearance, Clark."

Clark shrugged. "It just never occurred to me."

"Mm. What do you want to do with him?"

"Jeez, Lex, I don't know. If I knew, I would already have done it by now," Clark sighed.

"I'll think of something," Lex said. He rolled up his shirt sleeve, exposing tattoo ink. "Here, look."

"Wow, Lex..." The tattoo was of the moon, but with a sort of halo around it. "Is that--"

"Solar eclipse." Lex ran his hand over the design. Clark touched it curiously. "I have another one, also. I'll show it to you later."

"Later?"

"Later." Lex's hand was on Clark's cheek then--and Lex's mouth was on his mouth, and Lex was kissing him.

Dude.

Clark hung onto Lex's shoulder, feeling off-balance, until Lex grunted and moved away and Clark had to let go. "You're a sweet boy," Lex said. He looked at his shoulder, where Clark's fingers let red marks. "A strong boy. But a very sweet boy. I'll take care of Sean."

"Thanks," Clark said, feeling dizzy.

"Later."

Clark grinned.

*


	12. Chapter 12

"Lex?"

Lex whipped the closet door shut. "Yes, Clark?"

"What's in there?" Lex was being secretive, which was weird. Clark knew he had secret things around, but he didn't usually look at them when Clark was around.

"Nothing." Lex stepped forward and ran his hand over Clark's stomach and under the waistband of his jeans, tugging him closer. Lex's undershirt brushed against Clark's bare chest, giving him the shivers.

Clark rubbed his thumbs over Lex's shoulders. He avoided the knife scar. "So why are you hiding it?"

"I'm not." Lex dropped to his knees and hugged Clark's legs, looking at his crotch intently.

"Are too."

"Am not." Lex shoved Clark's legs apart.

"You so totally are--" Clark stepped over Lex's shoulder, ending up half before and half behind, but close enough that he could open the closet door.

He unlatched it and was about to fling it open when Lex bit his dick.

Not hard, but there were definite teeth surrounding him through the denim. "Um."

"Mmm," Lex said, and let go. "You're pushy, Clark."

"Um, ditto?"

Lx smiled up at him. He hugged Clark's leg to his chest. "Go ahead and look."

"Are you going to bite me?"

"Only if you want me to." Lex rubbed his cheek against Clark's crotch.

Clark hesitated--curiosity, teeth. Curiosity, teeth. But--Lex couldn't *hurt* him, exactly, so he opened the door.

"Lex."

"Mm."

"Wow."

"Mm?"

"You are *such* a geek."

"Yes."

"Do those lightsabers work?"

"Well. They're hardly laser swords. But they do light up and you can hit things with them, so I suppose you could say they work."

"Wow."

"I cleared my old toys out of the Metropolis house this weekend. Feeling sentimental, I suppose." Lex slid his shoulder from between Clark's legs and stood up, slipping his hand into Clark's back pocket.

"Somehow I pictured you with a miniature briefcase or something," Clark said. He snuck his hand up Lex's back to the naked scoop of shoulder and neck exposed by his shirt.

"I had that too. I've done the accounting for my share of the household since I was eleven. My nanny's salary came out of my allowance."

"So you could fire her?"

Lex smiled. "I could try."

"Huh." Clark touched the lightsaber. The beam part was hard plastic but the handle felt like real metal. He pushed a button and the beam lit up.

"Want to give them a go?" Lex bumped him gently with his hip.

"I..." Lex smelled like cologne, but mostly like clean sweat. And like the things they'd just been doing. "Um. Later?"

Lex turned to him, grabbed his hair and kissed him. "Okay," he said eventually, then kissed him again while yanking open his fly and shoving down his jeans. Clark grabbed Lex's shirt and *very* carefully did not rip it, but he did throw it across the room, and then he managed to unbutton Lex's pants before taking a step back and falling on his ass because his jeans were around his ankles.

Lex grinned and stepped out of his own pants gracefully. He stood over Clark's hips. Clark felt for Lex's ankles, giving Lex his best puppy eyes. "Help me, Obi-Lex Kenobi, you're my only hope..."

Lex snorted. "I don't like that game, Clark..." He knelt carefully to sit on Clark's belly. "Now, if you were C3PO and I were R2D2, I could get into that--"

"You are such a dork!"

"Yeah." Lex grinned. He bent over and licked Clark's chin.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Post-Nicodemus.

It was nine o'clock and the show was finally winding down as Lana wandered back into the kitchen to see how things were going.

Much to her surprise, she found Lex in his undershirt, up to his elbows in hot water, washing mugs. "Lex?" she asked, coming up beside him. "What are you doing?"

Lex raised an eyebrow at her. "Washing mugs," he said. "We nearly ran out. The dishwasher is too slow. We'll need to keep an eye on the flow during the first couple of weeks, to see if this is a one-time bottleneck or a chronic problem."

"So you're washing them *yourself*? We have all these people!" She gestured at the dozen or so employees running around doing various things--there was *no* reason why *Lex Luthor* should be *washing dishes.*

Lex just looked at her, continuing to scrub. "I've been meaning to talk to you about that, Lana..."

"About what?"

Lex gave half a smile and looked down at the suds. "My father has a four-inch scar on his upper arm from a forklift accident in Plant One. I spent three summers as a lab assistant in the Metropolis testing facility. Currently I spend at least a third of my time in the lab here, doing quality control and research."

Lex looked her in the eye and she furrowed her brow, confused. She wasn't seeing the connection Lex was obviously trying to draw.

"We don't give anyone a job that we're not willing to do ourselves," Lex said. "And I want my managers to share that conviction. You're not above any of the work here, Lana, and neither am I."

"I don't get it. Do you want me to wash dishes all the time?"

Lex shook his head. "I want you to ensure that this establishment runs smoothly. If that means doing jobs like washing the dishes or serving coffee or sweeping the floor, then I expect you to do it."

"Oh." He was smiling, but...

"And I never want to see the Talon close early again. Got that?"

Oh, *man*... Carrie told her about that. Drinks on the house? Arguing with Lex? And she had *no * idea what she'd done with Clark... "Got it," she said in a tiny voice.

"Good." Lex pulled a mug out of the water, rinsed it and set it on the rack. He felt around the sink, then let out the wash water and dried his hands. "That's that."

"Um. Lex?"

"Yes?" Lex walked past her to the hook on the wall where his shirt and jacket were hanging.

"I didn't...*do* anything while I was sick, did I?"

Lex pulled his shirt over his head. "You did quite a few things, from what I hear." The smirk on his face when his head emerged almost made her blush.

"To you, I mean."

"I see..." Lex looked down and then back up at her. "Let's just say that the whipped cream belongs on the mochaccinos, not on me."

And this time, his smile *did* make her blush.

"I'll see you later, Lana." He shrugged on his jacket and headed out into the main room.


	14. Chapter 14

The thing is that he can't get his eyes to look through clothes per se. He can look a certain distance, or look through a certain transparency, or look that weird way that lets him see all the curves and cracks and knobs of bone, but he can't look at Lex's ass and not see the seam of his underwear outlining it.

Lex usually wears boxer-briefs, though, which show up as a band at the waist and mid-thigh and a long stretch of *nothing* in between.

When Lex picks up the coffee and heads back toward the table, Clark can see his dick resting comfortably in the half-clouded air, fat and pink and happy like a baby.

It's kind of perverted, but whatever. He doesn't look when Lex can see him; Lex hasn't caught him one single time. There's a bookshelf between them at the moment.

Girls' breasts kind of float and have pink creases if they're wearing a bra. They bounce if they're not wearing a bra, but Clark already knew that. Lex gets the same kind of pink crease around his waist from his belt, with a square mark behind the buckle. He doesn't bounce, but his dick sways with his pants and his balls are pink as candy, same as his nipples and the crease around his waist.

Mom said he should learn to close his eyes, and he *is*. He only looks through clothes when he wants to.

He always wants to look at Lex. He always *does* look at Lex.

Lex's toes turn pink inside his shoes and the tongue imprints two long lines on the top of his foot. He can look at Lex's feet without hiding behind something; it's not weird to stare at feet.

He can look at Lex's neck, too, under his collar. He doesn't turn pink there--he just has freckles. Clark wouldn't have guessed freckles. It makes him wonder if there's laser freckle remover and if Lex likes them or not. It makes him wish he could ask--he's willing to bet Lex would answer with the truth--but then he'd have to explain how he *knows* and his dad would kill him.

What he knows is that Lex is pale pink and dark pink all over, except for the light brown freckles on his shoulders and the dime-sized, medium brown birthmark just to the right of his navel. He knows that Lex is smooth all over except for some fine, light hair on his forearms and legs. He's pretty sure that hair is copper-colored. He looked Lex up on the Internet and found a picture of him as a kid, and his hair back then was orange as a Halloween pumpkin.

Now Lex is coming back with a cup of coffee for each of them and Clark is looking at the bones of his arms. Lex has marks on his left radius and his right ulna, unless it's the other way around; his left humerus too, and seven of his ribs and one of his vertebrae, which scares the hell out of Clark. He has a crooked little toe and three crowns and a healed crack in his nose. Clark wants badly to ask about all those injuries--because he bets Lex would tell him--but he can't, because he shouldn't know.

Lex has a candy-pink scar on his shoulder and a larger, uglier one on his thigh. He has little white marks all down his left arm, so delicate that Clark didn't even notice them for ages. He has a scar on his lip that's echoed on his soft palate, deep inside his mouth, and Clark really *really* wants to know about that.

He wants to know all about Lex.

"What's on your mind?" Lex asks, handing him coffee. "You're looking very serious for a boy with the whole summer ahead of him."

"I'm...trying to remember if I put the milk back in the fridge," Clark says, because he's very good at lying.

Lex laughs. "We'll stop by the house before the movie."

Clark smiles. He sips the coffee and closes his eyes.


	15. Chapter 15

One week after moving to Smallville, Lex Luthor visited Nell's flower shop.

She hadn't been expecting him, but she wasn't entirely surprised, either.

"I'd like to arrange for a daily delivery of flowers to the castle," he said. "Whatever is in season."

"I can do that. The irises are lovely now," she said, gesturing to the vases.

Lex looked at them, smiling faintly. "You always did have good taste."

"Hm. No hard feelings, then?" He wasn't the boy he had been at sixteen, for all that his body hadn't changed much. He dressed soberly; he stood quietly; the anger was a smoldering hearth, not a raging wildfire.

The last time she'd seen him, he'd thrown a vase at her head. It had almost connected--it probably *would* have connected if his eyes hadn't been blinded with tears. Two days and one sleepless night later, she'd turned down Lionel's proposal. It was only partially because of Lex.

Lex smiled and looked down. "I'm not the boy I was," he said softly. "I don't blame you at all. I just couldn't stand the idea of someone trying to replace my mother. I realize *now* that you weren't trying to do that, but at the time..."

"I'm glad to hear it," she said, and offered him her hand. He looked up at her, startled, then smiled, and shook it.

"The boy you were would have thrown one of those vases at me by now." She winked.

"Jesus." He straightened. "I'd almost forgotten about that. What a night that was..." He shook his head. "I didn't hit you, did I?"

"No."

"I wasn't aiming for you," Lex said, rubbing his hand over his head. He gave her a look full of chagrin. "I was aiming for Dad. I am sorry. Normally my pitches are a little better than that."

*

Which felt like the story of her life, sometimes: God looking down and saying, *Sorry, my aim needs some work.*

Prince Charming came--and he *was* charming, caring, and rich, but also controlling, frighteningly volatile, and loathed by all her friends. He gave her a diamond the size of the princess' pea and she gave it right back in return for her freedom. Oops. Sorry. She pictured Destiny mumbling "my bad" and slinking back into the shadows.

And then there was Lana.

Lana giggled her way into the house the day after meeting Lex, telling Nell "he looks *just* the same" before collapsing onto the couch, hooting with laughter. That was how Nell found out Lana had met Lex before--if only briefly.

She had to wonder if Lana would have told her mother.

She wondered sometimes if the meteor had been meant for her. Not that she had a death wish; just that when the meteor struck, her life was wiped out and was replaced by her sister's. Her sister's flower shop, that Nell was running while Lara stayed home with Lana; her sister's house, left her by their parents when they died. Her sister's child. It was all her sister's dream.

Their mother had followed their father by only a few months. She told her girls to follow their dreams, and then gave them the means to do so. Lara got the shop and the house in Smallville; Nell got the money and the fixer-upper in Metropolis. She was going to be an artist with a skylight studio--or maybe an interior designer with a tidy office, but wither way, she was headed to Metropolis. But then her sister got pregnant and *someone* had to manage the store and then the baby came and Lara stayed home and one year turned into three--then her big sister died and the house, the shop, the baby all came down to Nell.

Not that she didn't love Lana. She *did,* just as fully and as fiercely as her sister did, even when Lana was being a royal pain in the ass.

Lana was just like her mother, actually, which was the problem. Lara and Nell had gotten along like two cats in burlap sack when they were teenagers. Lara was just...a princess, like Lana was. The term now was "passive-aggressive;" back then, Nell called Lara a ninny.

If you want something, you go get it. If someone gives you an option, make a choice. Trying to get Lana to take an interest in her own sweet sixteen was like trying to get her to hold still for a root canal with no anesthesia, and it was just because Lana was in a *mood* that week. She'd been happier doing algebra with Clark Kent than looking at decorations with Nell, and Nell *knew* it wasn't because Lana had suddenly become a math lover.

The girl was just contrary.

Nell would just have to wait for her to outgrow it.

Maybe her sister would have handled it all better, but she wasn't her sister, she was just living her sister's life. Oops, sorry. We meant to give that future to Lara.

*

Then there were the Kents.

Nell wondered sometimes what it would have been like to be married to Jonathan Kent. He'd asked, way back in high school, full of guilt over sleeping with her. She'd said no without hesitation.

Probably they would have driven each other nuts within a year. She didn't feel terribly wistful over it.

It seemed like they were tied together, though. Jonathan's farm was right next door to the house she inherited from her sister--next door in country terms, anyway; a mile apart. Her first impulse was to be friendly, but then they brought home their little boy and virtually vanished for two years.

It made her suspicious. She'd known people who adopted kids before, and they nearly vibrated--this is our baby, look at our baby, our baby that we *finally* have after *so long*--because she knew Martha had been trying for years, everyone knew. She had to wonder what was wrong with the baby that they didn't want to show him off.

Maybe it was uncharitable. But they didn't *say* anything, so what was a person to think? And she heard rumors that he was a Romanian orphan, a little refugee...and, well, she followed the news. She knew about the AIDS and the disease out there. She had to ask herself--would Jonathan *tell* anyone if he'd adopted a sick little boy?

And she knew Jonathan, and knew he wouldn't. His father had a stroke and it was a full year before anyone knew, and *that* was only because the mailman came to the door with a package. Jonathan was a secretive son of a bitch and Martha wasn't much better. She was a city girl, and private.

When they finally put Clark in school, he looked fine--but they kept him out of playgroups and got him excused from gym class for years. They kept him wrapped up in cotton wool, and Nell had to wonder why.

Another wrong track. Another mistake. It had seemed perfect at first--a baby who had lost both *his* parents making a new life right next door to Lana--but things always got mixed up. Oops, sorry.

*


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Post-Duplicity

Clark dried as his mother washed the dishes. "It's just a three-page paper. I can do it Sunday night!"

"And all your other homework? It's almost Christmas break, Clark, I *know* they pile it on," she said. "I just don't think spending an entire weekend in Metropolis is a good idea right now."

Clark sighed and looked at his dad. "It's not because Lex invited me, is it?"

"Since when have we been reluctant to come right out and say that, Clark?" his dad said.

"Yeah, okay." Clark sighed again, drying a plate. "But it's just a little paper! And a little math. I could do it in the car!"

"Clark--" His dad suddenly cut off.

Clark looked back and saw a hand around his dad's mouth. Lex was there, in the shadows, holding a notebook up for his dad to read. Lex looked at Clark, wild-eyed, notebook up for him as well.

"ACT NORMAL. IMPORTANT! WALLS HAVE EARS." it read. Clark touched his mom's arm and she turned and saw.

Lex let go of Clark's dad. He swallowed, then said, "Well, let's see those assignments."

"I'll--get them," Clark said. He sat down at the table across from his dad, looking at Lex.

Lex set the notebook down, flipped to a fresh page, and wrote "DAD WAS AFFECTED BY METEORITES OR IS CRAZY. CAN'T TELL." He looked around at Clark and his parents, then continued, "SAYS HE HEARD YOU TALKING. FROM THE CASTLE. FOUR MILES."

"What?" Clark mouthed.

Lex looked at him, mouth a straight line, eyes sad. "SAYS CLARK IS ALIEN. SPECIAL POWERS. HAMILTON FOUND SPACESHIP FEW MONTHS AGO AND CLARK IS INVOLVED."

Clark's dad closed his eyes for a painful second. Clark's mom looked at Clark. Lex's eyebrows were knotted together; conflict was written all over his face. He turned to a fresh page. "WHO DO I BELIEVE?" he wrote, and underlined it.

Clark's dad rubbed his forehead. Clark's mom looked down at the table. Lex held Clark's eyes.

Clark's decision. Oh, God.

But really--it was easy. Clark took the notebook and pen. "BELIEVE YOUR FATHER. I LIE."

Clark's mom took it from him. "WE HAD TO PROTECT HIM."

Lex looked down at the notebook, then nodded. He took the pen. "I UNDERSTAND," he wrote. He looked at Clark; his mouth twitched, and he underlined it before turning to a fresh page. "FATHER IS DANGEROUS--RESOURCES, OBSESSIVE. KNOWS EVERYTHING. WHAT DO WE DO?"

He looked from Clark's mom to Clark's dad, then wrote: "NO DESIRE TO SEE CLARK IN LABORATORY."

Clark shivered all over. His mom rubbed his shoulder.

Clark's dad took the pen and notebook. "WHAT ARE FATHER'S POWERS? WHAT DOES HE KNOW? WHAT CAN HE FIND OUT?"

"ENCHANCED HEARING ONLY. CAN HEAR WHOLE TOWN. TOLD ME WHAT GABE ATE FOR DINNER, TOLD ME WHO I TALKED TO ON CELL PHONE IN CAR. TOLD ME WHAT I SAID TO NELL IN TALON. TOLD ME LANA WAS KISSING BOBBY STEWART IN BACK ROOM."

And of all the things to be shocking, the last one was really what got him. Clark shook his head. Lex raised his eyebrows and nodded. Clark shook his head more vigorously. "SECOND BASE," Lex wrote. "DAD WAS ON PHONE. I LOOKED."

Clark's dad took the notebook. "CAN'T IGNORE THIS. CAN'T REASON WITH HIM. CAN YOU KEEP HIM ON A LEASH?" He looked at Lex.

Lex shook his head.

"LIKE NIXON," Clark's dad wrote, and rubbed his eyes.

Lex's eyes went wide. "NIXON DISCOVERED CLARK?"

Clark took the pen. "NIXON WANTED TO SELL ME TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER. HE TRIED TO KILL DAD FOR THAT."

Lex swallowed. He grabbed the pen back. "CANNOT KILL MY FATHER."

Clark's mom shook her head, touching Lex's arm. "WE'LL THINK OF SOMETHING."

"OUT OF IDEAS," Lex wrote, "IN SHOCK. WILL COME BY TOMORROW. MIGHT HAVE IDEA BY THEN." He stood up, moving slowly, and tore the pages out of the notebook.

"That's a hell of a math problem," Clark's dad said, looking at Lex. "I think you'd better postpone that trip to Metropolis."

"Yeah, I guess so," Clark said. He stood up too, realizing--he just *told* Lex. *He told Lex.* He wondered what Lex was going say when he really realized how many lies Clark had told.

Lex hadn't known him as long as Pete had. But he was important--just as important to Clark.

Lex lit the pages on fire and set them in the sink. He watched them burn for a long minute.

He opened the notebook and wrote "I'M SORRY." He showed them, then looked at his words, and added "FOR PUSHING SO HARD."

Clark's mom stood beside his dad, holding his hand. Clark's dad looked away.

Clark took the notebook from Lex and circled "I'M SORRY," then added "FOR CALLING YOU CRAZY FOR GUESSING THE TRUTH."

Lex read it and his mouth twitched. He slipped the notebook into his pocket, looking at Clark. He offered Clark his hand.

Clark shook his hand and impulsively pulled him into a hug.


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Red"

There's a tongue in his ear and a hand on his hip. When he turns around, it's a hand on his dick and lips on his chin. "Clark."

"Hi, Lex." Clark in leather, Clark pressing him against the edge of the pool table. "I'd ask you to dance, but I think we already have long enough."

Clark's hot mouth on his throat. Clark stealing his lines as well as his dress sense. "I'm happy to see *you,* too..."

"Yeah, I can tell." Clark's hands pulling down his zipper.

Clark's not himself. Mind control, meteor rock, more of those damned Nicodemus flowers--Clark will be horrified when this is over. Clark's never been so pushy in his life.

Clark pushing him back onto the table. Clark's dick against his thigh through new, expensive pants. "You'll regret this in the morning."

"So? That's the morning." Clark's hands under his shirt. Clark tearing it in half.

"I ought to tell you no."

"So? Tell me no." Clark's hands on either side of his head. Clark staring down at him, waiting for an answer.

A risk--a wild and reckless risk, a risk he's always wanted to take. A risk that could backfire as spectacularly as the others have, but oh, what a reward. And a decision: "I'm not saying no."

Clark's smile is no less brilliant when wild. Clark's hands are rough and strong as he always thought they would be. Clark handles him far more confidently than he ever would have thought.

Clark watches him come with eyes almost frightening in their intensity.

"Your turn." But Clark's hands don't push and pull; he backs off. Clark's unsure.

Sweat on the felt. He rolls off, falling to his knees. Clark's smiling--leather and aggression and *dimples*. He may never let go of this boy. Ever.

First time and maybe the last time, but he can stare his fill: at the muscles under the shirt, the hair under the jeans, the ridiculous colors of the dick. He can taste. He can feel. Risk and reward.

Clark's thumbs rubbing circles on his head so gently. Clark nearly silent, but not quite. Clark tasting wholesome and organic.

Clark kissing him hard on the mouth and leaving.

*

There was a ding in the finish of the pool table. No stains, though, and no lingering scent. Nothing but a little imperfection in the wood.

Lex thought--the mark must have been from Clark's belt buckle, and smiled.

Risk. Reward. He still didn't know if there was a penalty, but he was going to find out any minute, just as soon as...

Clark walked through the door. He looked at the pool table and blushed bright red.

"No short-term amnesia, I see," Lex said.

"No, um, none. At all." Clark stuffed his hands into his pockets and looked anywhere but Lex. "I--don't know what..."

"Want a drink? Orange juice? Water?"

"I'm sorry, I was being someone else, and now I'm back to me, and this is really awkward." Clark hunched his shoulders and stared at the floor.

"I like both Clark Kents," Lex said. "I think it's a fair bet that I'll like any Clark Kent that shows up."

Clark sneaked a glance. "I'm hoping it'll just be me from now on."

Lex leaned against the pool table and Clark turned red again. "Are you sure it wasn't you?" Lex asked. "Are you positive?"

"I. God. Lex, what do you want? I mean--do you want to be friends? Because I want to be--friends." Clark retreated, backing up into the middle of the room. Clark, red and panicking.

"Just friends. That's fine, Clark. I'm not going to jump you." Lex crossed to the bar, giving Clark a wide berth, and poured a glass of juice. "And my mistake--it's pineapple juice today, not orange."

"Oh. That sounds pretty good, actually." Clark approached one step at a time as Lex poured another glass.

Clark's hand cupped around the little glass, gently: the gentleness that comes from strength. Lex clinked his glass against Clark's. "To friendship."

Clark laughed, but toasted with him anyway.

"Friendship with the *option* of ripping my shirt off--if the mood should strike again."

And Clark was quick to blush but grinned into his pineapple juice. His eyes held heated secrets.

Lex wanted to kiss those sweet lips, but didn't. This was the time for patience. Patience lets the venture bear ripe red fruit.


	18. Chapter 18

White noise generator.

High pitched sound. If dogs could hear it, perhaps so could his father...he pictures his father writhing in aural pain and feels a pang of satisfying guilt mixed with pleasure.

Or infrasound, so low that it was only tactile vibration to regular people. He'd read that could deeply upset some people. Perhaps it could make his father nauseous.

He had to think. There had to be a way. His father wasn't going anywhere, and Lex was abruptly glad of that. He could run tests. Experiments.

Perhaps he could create interference at the pitch of a human voice, so that words would be unrecognizable. Or, he could simply build a soundproof room. It would have to be someplace his father couldn't plant a bug, though--he had more resources than just the paranormal.

He climbed the stairs, mapping out property in his head. LuthorCorp, LexCorp, personal...he and his father owned quite a bit of Smallville.

"Good evening, Lex." His father was standing in front of his office door.

Lex didn't answer, just kept walking. His father blocked him with the cane and leaned in close. His sightless eyes stared over Lex's shoulder. "I know you went to see the Kents, Lex."

Lex shoved it the cane back into his father's chest. "What are you going to do?" his father asked.

He was so close Lex could see the blood pulsing in his throat. He could wish--but no, he didn't wish anything. Not here. Not in Smallville.

His father suddenly shifted, pushing Lex into the wall with his shoulder and touching his bearded cheek to Lex's ear. He inhaled, audibly. "Did you go to see the Kents--or to see their *son*? I can smell him on you, Lex." He sniffed again, and laughed. "I approve. Those powers, and on top of that, the boy has *fire*. A worthy companion for a Luthor."

Lex took his father's elbow and his father slammed him into the wall, pinning him with the cane. His eyes stared at Lex's forehead. "Don't imagine that you have any secrets from me, Lex! You talk in your sleep. Your guilty conscience gives you away!"

Lies. He'd taped himself. He snored if he'd been drinking, but he never said a word. Lex grabbed the cane and shoved his father out of his path; his father stumbled, but caught himself on the opposite wall. "What *are* you going to do, Lex?" his father said.

He was going to look at some property maps, and he was going to think. And his father wasn't going to get in the way.

He shut the study door firmly behind him. He locked it.

He was shivering, so he put on a sweater.

*


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Post-Nocturne

"Hi, Lex."

"Good evening, Mrs Kent." Lex was still drinking. He had been all night.

He finished the glass and stood up, wavering slightly, to pour another. "Don't you think you've had enough?" she asked.

"Not nearly enough," Lex replied. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to achieve a quality buzz with Dad in the house?" He sipped at the whiskey and checked his watch. "It's nine o'clock, Mrs Kent, and you have a family."

"I wanted to talk to you."

He tilted his head. She realized that he had yet to meet her eyes. "We're talking."

"I get the impression that you're not very happy with me coming to work for your father." Martha crossed the room, standing close enough that Lex couldn't avoid looking at her any more; he glanced at her once, but then his eyes skipped down to the glass in his hand.

"Maybe I'm old-fashioned," Lex said. "Though I'm really not, so perhaps I'm just...retro. Can morals be retro?"

She blinked. "Excuse me?"

"Though self-delusion is a strong possibility," Lex said, and tossed back his drink. He lost his balance and had to step back half a step, but poured another drink anyway.

"Lex, I think you had better explain just exactly what it is you mean," Martha said.

Lex bit his lip and let it slide slowly through his teeth. He looked sideways at Martha. "I've introduced eight girlfriends to my father," he said. "He's slept with seven of them."

Which was--shocking, and a little disgusting, but Martha didn't see his point.

"Of the twenty-five women who have worked in the Metropolis house or as his personal assistant, he's slept with all twenty-five." He met her eyes. "That's not counting you. Yet."

"Lex, I am a *married woman," she said.

"So were four of the housekeepers and one of his previous assistants." Lex looked up at the ceiling. "He never managed to fuck my wife, but then, he never actually met her."

He had to be playing with her. She'd seen the games that he and his father played with each other; she guessed this was part of working for Lionel Luthor. "This conversation is over," Martha said. She turned on her heel and walked firmly to the door.

"Is it the money?" Lex called after her, "or is it something more personal? God knows I can't say no to him, so I don't blame you, I really don't." His voice was rough from the liquor.

Martha stopped and turned back to face him. "Lex? You're young and you're drunk, so I won't hold this against you in the morning. But I love my husband dearly and that is not something that's going to change because of who I work for."

"And I'd love to believe that," Lex murmumred.

"Believe it." She put her hands on her hips. "Lex, he's *blind.* He doesn't even know what I look like."

"He knows you. He never forgets a redhead."

Martha closed her eyes. "Lex. This isn't the way it's going to go."

"That's what I keep telling myself."

"I'm not that easy."

"And yet you're here. And I never thought you would be." Lex drained the glass again. "I thought you said this conversation was over."

"Jesus, Lex." She turned and walked out the door without stopping.

*


	20. Chapter 20

Lex looked over his shoulder. "Lucas. What are you doing here?"

"Came to see you, bro. It's been a while." Lucas was blue and gray in the darkness. The whites of his eyes gleamed steadily.

"It's been a week, and we've talked every day."

"Week's a long time."

"Why are you in my bed?" Lex asked.

Lucas' arms tightened around him, pinning his elbows firmly to his sides. "I slept here when the place was mine. I like it. Sorry I woke you up..."

"That's really not what's bothering me at the moment," Lex said.

"Yeah, I know. You really *hate* not being in control, don't you?"

"Please--you've met our father. I grew up with that every day of my life. I'm a master at mind games; don't even try." Lex relaxed onto the pillow.

"But this isn't a game. I'm really attacking you. I just haven't made my move yet."

"How about that." Lex closed his eyes.

"Now you're thinking about the gun in the headboard and the various hand-to-hand techniques you've picked up... but you're not very strong, so you know you have to pick your time. This is complicated by the fact that you don't know me very well, so you don't know what I can do. You figure I know kung fu, that kind of stuff, since I'm into Asian weapons; you figure I probably have a knife and a gun. You're right about all of that."

"Actually, I'm thinking about the morning's meetings," Lex said. "How did you get past security? The place is locked down at nights."

"Your security sucks. And you're a really good liar, Lex. I didn't even feel you doing it. I guess it's because you lie with pretty much every word you speak."

"You have no idea what you're talking about..."

"Okay, not lie exactly, but you *spin* everything. You're a busy little beaver inside your head." Lucas pulled Lex closer, hugging him against his chest, throwing one jeans-clad leg over Lex's thigh.

"If everyone spoke the raw truth, society would collapse."

"Yeah, probably," Lucas said, cheek against Lex's skull. "You have really fucked-up dreams, guy. The one where you're fucking your girlfriend, only it's really Clark Kent, and your dad is right there in bed next to you watching? That would be kind of normal except for the fact that you know what Dad looks like naked. So now *I* know, and I really didn't want to, but I don't think you did either. What happened there?"

Lex was silent.

"Who's that kid you just thought of?" Lucas asked. "The other mind-reader?"

"You have no idea what you're talking about."

"You're--wow, thinking of a brick wall. That's pretty cool. You're good at this." Lucas laughed against Lex's scalp. "A brick wall with shit splattered on it. You have a lot of *control*..."

Lucas shifted fast as lightning, rolling over onto Lex and pinning him with his weight. He twisted Lex's left arm up behind him. "You're left-handed, right? Yeah, you're left-handed. You totally *lose* that control when you flip out, like right now," Lucas breathed into Lex's ear.

Lex didn't struggle. "What do you want?"

"Just, you know, a little brotherly chat. Catch up on the stuff you don't want to tell me. Like--you *peeked*? You looked at Dad when he was in the hospital? *That's* how you know what he looks like?"

"I could be misleading you. I'm stronger than you think," Lex said.

"About boring shit like bank accounts, yeah, but I'm just getting to know my brother. Does Clark know you stole his underwear?" Lucas laughed, jerking at Lex's arm. "Here they are, those nice country people, and you stole their wholesome little son's tighty-whities right out of the laundry. That's *so* pervy--I love it! And he doesn't know? I bet he'd jizz his shorts if he knew. That, or beat you up."

"You have *no idea* what you're talking about."

"So who's the kid?" Lucas leaned his weight forward, pushing Lex into the pillow. "Oh, he's dead? And your other brother is dead. And your mommy is dead. But *my* mommy is alive, just locked up far away from all the nice country folk..."

"That's all in the papers," Lex said, voice muffled.

"Who exactly are you trying to kid? There's nobody else in here, I can *tell.* I *love* this telepathy shit. I could have used this when I was a kid!" Lucas sat up, pulling Lex's other arm behind him. "This happens a lot in Smallville, huh? Yeah, you're thinking about the meteor rock, how it messes people up. I found that bar in your safe and *now* look at me!"

Lucas bounced on his knees and Lex made a small, painful noise. "I'm like the Shadow," Lucas crowed, "the Shadow knows! Know what I'm going to do on the card tables? Or in the boardroom? I'll make a killing."

"Or get killed," Lex said.

"Me? No way. I can tell what *all* you guys are thinking. I know what you're going to do before you do." Lucas frowned. "You think I'm going to pull a weapon and you're going to get rescued. There's nobody *around*, bro."

"I keep telling you, you really have no idea what you're talking about," Lex said, and I burst in the room. I grabbed Lucas and tossed him into the wall, knocking him out.

Lex sat up, rubbing his elbows. "Long bathroom break, Clark."

"I... yeah. Sorry. I didn't know what was going on." I was listening. It was bad, but--I was listening, even when I knew I should have been rescuing.

Lex stretched his arms out in front of him; his joints cracked and he winced. "No harm done."

I X-rayed his arms--yeah, no harm done. I sat beside him. "What are you going to do with him?"

"Put him under guard," Lex said.

"Do you think he's the real deal?"

Lex looked down at his hands. "How much did you hear?"

"Stuff about meteor rocks?"

"I don't know, Clark. He could be a mutant. I don't know. Hide for a second, I'm calling up security and don't want you involved."

I hid in the bathroom again. A couple of goons carried Lucas out, no questions asked.

Kind of weird. I never get used to the staff.

But Lex came into the bathroom then, and he was *Lex.* My friend. My really *good* friend, who was welcome to steal my underwear any time. We fought--a lot--but he was still the same Lex I liked underneath. He leaned back against my chest and looked at himself in the mirror. "Do I have any bruises?" he asked.

"I don't see any."

"The last thing I need is to run production meetings looking like a punching bag." Lex intertwined our fingers. "Can you stay the night?"

He only asked when he really wanted me to. "Yeah, I just need to get up early." I hugged him--he was *so* cuddly in his pajamas, unlike his daytime clothes.

Lex's eyes flickered in the mirror. "Then we'd better get to bed." He turned in my arms, put one hand in my hair, and kissed me.

End.


	21. Chapter 21

He just... had to sit and think a bit.

His grandpa Hiram would have lit up a pipe on the back porch, but Clark's parents didn't want him to smoke, so Clark was at the hospital instead, sitting next to Lex.

He and Dr. Walden--who was nowhere *near* as cool as his books--had found Lex unconscious in the cave with the key under his hand. Clark was just glad he could grab it before Walden saw it.

And how--that he could even *be* glad with his best friend in the hospital.

Obviously he had to think. A lot.

A lot a lot.

But Lex's eyes were scary and whited-out like a zombie and they wouldn't close; when Clark pushed them closed they popped right back open. Lex just couldn't stop staring.

The nurse showed Clark how to keep his eyes wet with drops. They tracked down his cheeks and onto his head like tears. Like Lex was seeing something so awful he couldn't look away for a second...

Clark's skin prickled and he looked up. Dr. Bryce was standing in the doorway, looking at Lex.

"Do you think he's going to be okay?" Clark asked.

Dr. Bryce took off her glasses and pinched her nose between her eyes. "Anybody else and I'd say no, but... I've seen his medical history. The things he's survived would cripple another man."

"He's strong," Clark said.

"I think he has a good chance." She smiled at him and left.

Clark leaned over to dropper Lex's eyes again. One drop in each huge, grayed-out pupil.

*

And he still had that stupid genealogy worksheet to do.

The sun was setting. They were going to chase him out soon and he hadn't really settled anything inside himself.

Clark leaned over his knees, barely balancing himself in the too-small chair, looking at his hands. Looking at Lex's hands, too, still on the bedsheets. Clark's hands had dirt ground into every groove and line, right down under the skin; his fingertips were rough and ragged, even though they *shouldn't* be. He should be smooth and perfect with his alienness, but he *wasn't*.

Lex's hands were hairless, pale and translucent as milk glass. Blue veins showed on the backs of his hands and roped over his hospital-braceleted wrists.

Lex had a thick, flat scar by the nail of his ring finger. Clark had no scars at all. That's how you knew Clark was the creepy alien invader and Lex was the home-grown Kansas boy.

That, and the fact that Lex was staring down death due to the same key that had told Clark his past. Just a little glitch. Faulty human wetware.

Lex's thumb twitched.

Clark jumped to his feet by the bed. "Lex? Lex, are you in there?"

Lex grabbed his hand. He yanked Clark toward him, surging up off the bed, shouting--something so familiar, but nonsense, complete nonsense.

The monitors went nuts. A nurse ran in, and two nurses, and Clark pried himself away.

Lex was still shouting--

Shouting "tell me where it fell what fell what it is where it is tell me--"

Shouting in Kryptonese. It had just taken Clark a minute to translate.

Clark ran home.

*

"I have to tell him something," Clark said.

His dad flattened his hands on the table. "No you *don't*! You don't owe him anything just because he pried and got himself hurt!"

"Would you be saying that if it was Pete?"

"Yes!"

Clark looked down; he heard his father breathing heavily. "Clark," his mom said, "this has been a very strange week. Stop and think before you do anything."

"I am thinking," Clark said.

His mom ruffled his hair and planted a kiss on the top of his head.

His dad had a thin slice across the back of his hand where the tractor bit him a long time ago. His mom had a dozen tiny scars on her fingers from sewing and canning and cooking.

*

In the morning Lex was sitting up with the TV on, though he wasn't looking at it. He still stared out into nothing. Clark hovered outside the room for a while before going in.

"Who's there, and why are you spying on me?" Lex asked.

"It's Clark..." and he tried to figured out how to answer the second part, but Lex just smiled.

"My dad gets his sight back and I lose mine. But it's temporary, they tell me. I just scorched my retinas somehow. Personally, I'm more worried about my brain."

"You sound... good," Clark said.

"Helen said you were here when I woke up. What did I say?"

"Nothing. I mean--it didn't mean anything. I guess you were rebooting." Clark finally sat down, knotting his hands between his knees.

Lex grinned. "Rebooting. That's one word for it."

"You sound really good. I was kind of scared."

"Never doubt a Luthor. Bullets don't stop us. Lightning only slows us down."

Clark rubbed his thumbs over each other. "Do you remember what happened?"

"Not a bit."

So he was off the hook.

"I'm told you found me in the caves? I'm also told they're guessing lightning, though you'd think that wouldn't happen underground."

"Maybe with all the lights--" Excuses. Rationalization.

He was just--he was sick of that. Sick of thinking up lies. "Lex, I know what happened."

"Do you," Lex said, sounding more surprised than accusing.

Clark dug the key out of his pocket. He clasped Lex's hand in his with the key between them. "This happened."

"The disc from the field," Lex said. His hand moved in Clark's. "You know what it is?"

"It was in your hand when we found you. I didn't--it just--we couldn't tell you," Clark said, and it was part of the truth. "Dad found this on the day of the meteor shower. He saw it fall and he dug it out of the ground. We had it for a long long time, and then--lost it, and you found it, and we just--couldn't tell you. We couldn't tell anyone."

"Come closer," Lex said. He pulled on Clark's hand, and Clark leaned in.

"I'm so sorry," Clark said, looking into Lex's grayed-out eyes.

"I can see you. You're just blurry. I can see you telling the truth."

Part of it. Maybe part would be enough. "We never wanted anyone to get hurt. Especially not you."

"You looked me straight in the eye and laughed at me for believing in aliens..."

"I'm so, so sorry. You can't even know," Clark said, feeling miserable.

Lex smiled. "Oh, I can know. Jesus, Clark, you're better at keeping secrets than I thought." He laughed and his mouth was bright red against the paleness of his skin.

"People would flip," Clark said.

"I know. No wonder you get so bitchy whenever I start pushing."

"I'm not!"

"You *are.* But I'm not mad, Clark. I might be later when I've had time to think about it, but I'm not right now."

"Okay," Clark said, but he knew it wasn't over.

It was only *part* of the truth.

"I'm bored silly in here. Tell me a story," Lex said.

The IV made the skin of his left wrist red as his mouth. The scar on his lip pulled flat and disappeared when he grinned.

End.


End file.
